William Byron Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Jimmie Johnson finished third in his final race at Dover International Speedway, a track he’s conquered a record 11 times throughout his 19-year NASCAR Cup Series career. Despite capturing his fourth top-five of the year, Johnson had to overcome a speeding penalty early in the race which set him back to 30th. As the race began to wind down, he had worked his way back into the top-10 and when the caution came out for Corey LaJoie on Lap 290, crew chief Cliff Daniels made aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service There was no drama in Kevin Harvick’s victory in the Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway, an old-fashioned thrashing in the back end of a Saturday/Sunday NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader. There was more than enough suspense, however, in the battle between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and William Byron for the final position in the Cup Playoffs. After winning the first stage at the high-banked concrete Monster Mile, Harvick had already clinched the regular-season Cup championship and the 15-Playoff-point bonus that goes with it,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – No practice, no qualifying, new course. No problem for Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott. The 24-year old Elliott gave a not-so-subtle reminder Sunday afternoon in the NASCAR Cup Series debut on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course that he is one of the sport’s very best on the technical road circuits, even sight unseen as was the case this week. Just before a caution flag with five laps remaining, Elliott had pulled out to a 10-second advantage on the field.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer William Byron may have wound up 10th after what looked like a banner night was in store, but Thursday’s Super Start Batteries 400 at Kansas Speedway played a big role on the top-16 playoff grid. Going into the 267-lap race, Byron was only a mere two points behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for the 16th and final playoff spot and was ahead of 18th place points man Tyler Reddick by 12 points. However, things looked different on top of the No. 24 Axalta pitRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In what could be a sneak preview of the Championship 4 race later this year, Denny Hamlin outdueled Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. to win the Super Start Batteries 400 presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts Thursday night at Kansas Speedway. After a wild restart on Lap 246, Hamlin passed Harvick for the lead on Lap 255 of 267 and held off a late charge from Keselowski to score his NASCAR Cup Series-best fifth victory of the season, his third at KansasRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A multi-car crash on the 219th lap of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway brought out the 14th red flag this season. The race had just restarted a lap before with Brad Keselowski, who was running on a two-tire strategy, leading the way. Things got wild once his Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano came into the picture. Keselowski and Blaney had a tremendous battle for the lead, but Blaney got very loose in Turn 3, giving Keselowski the clear advantage.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin turned the tables on Kevin Harvick on Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Staying out on old tires and building a lead while Harvick battled traffic late in the Pocono 350, Hamlin won the second race of the historic NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader by 3.068 seconds over Harvick, reversing the finishing order of the two drivers from a day earlier. For the first time in its history, NASCAR ran two Cup events on the same weekend at the same track. Hamlin achieved several milestonesRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Two races in two days. Double the fun. Pocono Raceway will host a doubleheader weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend, with the running of the Pocono Organics 325 on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Pocono 350 a day later on Sunday afternoon. With only three turns, instead of the four turns at all other ovals on the circuit, Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks on the schedule. The three turns all have differing banking with Turn 1 and its 14-degree bankingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. won his second consecutive Martinsville Speedway race Wednesday night, ultimately cruising to a 4.232-second victory over a super competitive Team Penske trio of cars in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Compared to his dominating victory at the half-mile track last Fall (he led 464 of 500 laps), Truex had to negotiate and muscle his way to the front this time. “We’ve been working a long-time on trying to figure this place out and just been chipping away at it,” saidRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Providing exactly the kind of wild finish that has made Bristol Motor Speedway one of the most popular venues on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Brad Keselowski was in perfect position to take advantage of hard racing in the closing laps and earned the victory in Sunday’s Food City presents the SUPERMARKET HEROES 500. With two laps remaining race leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott collided in front of the field and Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford rallied on to take the leadRead More